Stabilized elevator filing device

ABSTRACT

Stabilizer means for a vertically disposed elevator-type filing apparatus comprising a cabinet having a front opening and wherein a plurality of trays disposed therein are adapted to be moved in an elliptical path and presented at said opening for access to said trays on the links of a sprocket chain, comprising closed path elliptical stabilizer means in the form of channel members embracing said sprocket chains and defining spaced vertical components and a pair of double arch components at the top and bottom of said vertical components and merging and communicating with each other and with said vertical components and triangular stabilizers pivoted at one corner to swivel pins carried by support means secured to said trays and carrying rollers at its two remaining corners disposed to slide in and retained by said channel members.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Lloyd M. Toms Crozet, Va. [21] Appl. No. 820,213 [22] Filed Apr. 29, 1969 [4S] Patented May 18, 1971 [73] Assignee Acme Visible Records, Inc.

Crozet, Va.

[54] STABILIZED ELEVATOR FILING DEVICE 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl .L 312/268, 312/91 [51 Int. Cl A47b 47/00 [50] Field of Search 312/268, 91, 266; 198/181 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,603,547 7/1952 Zook 312/268X 3,178,247 4/1965 Wittrup et al..- 312/268 Primary Examiner-James T. McCall AttorneyGary, Parker, J uettner & Cullinan ABSTRACT: Stabilizer means for a vertically disposed elevator-type filing apparatus comprising a cabinet having a front opening and wherein a plurality of trays disposed therein are adapted to be moved in an elliptical path and presented at said opening for access to said trays on the links of a sprocket chain, comprising closed path elliptical stabilizer means in the form of channel members embracing said sprocket chains and defining spaced vertical components and a pair of double arch components at the top and bottom of said vertical components and merging and communicating with each other and with said vertical components and triangular stabilizers pivoted at one corner to swivel pins carried by support means secured to said trays and carrying rollers at its two remaining corners disposed to slide in and retained by said channel members.

STABILIZED ELEVATOR FILING DEVICE This invention relates to improvements in stabilizing means for vertically arranged or elevator-type files wherein a plurality of trays are adapted to be moved in an elliptical path and presented at a cabinet opening for access to the filing tray contents. As is well known in filingdevices of this elevator type, the files are pivotally carried in gravitational balance on a pair of links pivoted thereto and diverging therefrom wherethey are engaged to sprocket chains defining an elliptical path and whereby by suitable electrical operation and automatic pushbutton selectors any desired tray can be brought to operating position and stopped at the front opening of the cabinet at a desired accessible height.

It is also well known that filing trays engaged in this manner are subjected to undesirable side sway at times due to disproportionate arrangement of the file contents and a various means have been devised for stabilizing the trays in their movement both vertically and at the arches at the top and the bottom of the trays wherein the file is passed from the front to the rear side of the cabinet about an arcuate path where stabilizing is particularly indicated.

Stabilizing means have generally embodied channel members of elliptical form embracing the sprocket chain at the opposed sides of the supporting cabinet with arms extending from the pivoted trays into the stabilizing channels.

The present invention proposes three-point stabilizers of generally triangular form one corner of which is in pivotal engagement with the tray by swivel pins carried by support means secured to the tray, at its pivot point jointly with the supporting arms, and is engaged at the two remaining corners by rollers in a closed path stabilizing channel characterized by a pair of aligned medially spaced symmetrical arcuate components which merge with each other and with vertical components so that the stabilizer is at all times retained in a closed continuous path which thereby brings about effective and improved stabilization of the component trays.

The objects of the invention, its details of construction, arrangement of parts and the economies thereof, will be further apparent from a consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawingswherein,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the elevator file cabinet embodying therein the details of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line'2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section on theline 5-5 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 6 is a detail plan view of one of the triangular stabilizers of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 generally 'indicatesan elevator file having a front opening 11, and electrical pushbuttons 12 for operating the electrical components thereof to bring'the elevator file trays or drawers to the front door 11 as is well understood.

Secured against the opposed sides 13 of the cabinet 10 are suitable bearings,-not shown, on the spacedtshafts 14 and 15 carrying the sprocket wheels 16 and 17 respectively, one of which is driven by means, not shown, but also well understood. Trained about the sprocket wheels 16 and I7 is a sprocket chain 18 which carries a plurality of arm pairs such as the arms 19 and 20, these arms being pivoted at one end to spaced links of the sprocket chain 18 as at 21 and 22. At the opposed ends these arms 19 and are jointly engaged to the pivot 23 at a pointmedially of the arm 24 which carries the cradle or tray 25 in a balanced manner so that the tray 25 will tend to remain disposed horizontally by gravity.

For the purpose of stabilizing the tray 25 as his carried by the sprocket .chain' 18 upward and over theupper sprocket wheel 16 and then downwardly and then over the sprocket l7 and again upwardly, I provide stabilizer means'consisting of two components. One of these components is the triangular stabilizer 26 pivoted at one corner to the pivot 23 throughits slot 9 so that it is jointly pivoted thereat with the arm pair 19 and 20. The remaining two corners of the triangular stabilizer 26 carry rollers 27 and 28, the roller 27 being longer than the roller 28. Both of these rollers are received and slidably retained in the'second stabilizer components comprising two endwise spaced elliptical paths defined in part by vertical channel members 29 and 30, the channels 29 and 30 being of a depth to accommodate the longer roller 27.

The vertical channels 29 and 30 merge respectively with the medially separated but merging arc components or arches 31 and 32 at the top of the cabinet wherein they may be formed as grooves in the member 33 or separately formed of channel members. In the form illustrated the groove or arch channel 31 is of a depth to receive the longer roller 27 whereas the inner arch channel 32 is of a shorter depth adapted to receive only the shorter roller 28. Thus, when the sprocket chain 18 moves upwardly and carries the pair of arms 19 and 20 with their supported tray 26 in an upward direction toward the top as shown in FIG. 2, the longer roller 27 will enter the deeper groove of the arch 31 whereas the shorter roller 28 will not be able to enter into it and thus of necessity pass into the groove of the shorter arch 32.

This holds'the tray 25 in firm horizontal stabilized position and against side or other sway as it passes around the arcuate path and as the sprocket chain 18 continues to move about the sprockets 16 and I7, sayfor example in a downward path from the top as shown in FIG. 2, into the channel 30 adjacent the back 34 of the cabinet where the rollers 27 and 28 will jointly pass into the vertical channel 30 until they come to the lower arches or arcuate channels 35 and 36.'In'this case, the arcuate channel 35 is the shallower one and the arcuate channel 36 is the deeper one so that short roller 28 can only enter the shallower arcuate channel 35'whereas the longer roller 27 can only enter into the deeper arcuate channel 36 and hold the traversing tray well-stabilized-in a horizontal manner. From this point, the sprocket chain 18 carries the tray 25 forwardly with the rollers 27 and 2 8 jointly entering into the vertical channel 29 presenting the tray 25 to the front 37 of the cabinet adjacent the opening 11 thereof where movement can be terminated by electrical contact means 12 as previously in- As previously indicated the channels 31 and 32 can be either separately formed channels or channels cut in the member 33 and in a similar manner the arcuate channels 35 and 36 can be separate channel members or cut into the lower component 38 disposed against the sidewall 13 of the cabinet 10.

Although the triangular stabilizers 26 can be equilateral triangles, it is preferred that they be substantially or more nearly right angles as'illustrated wherein the distance of the arms length from pivot slot 9 to roller 27 is greater than the distance to roller 28 which I have found to give better stabilization.

I claim:

1. In a vertically disposed filing apparatusv comprising a cabinet having a front opening and wherein a plurality of trays disposed thereinare adapted to be moved in an elliptical path and presented at said opening for access to said trays, and wherein said trays are each carried on pivot pins in joint pivotal engagement at their opposed'sides with the ends of the suspension arms, said arms diverging therefrom and separately pivotally connected at their opposed ends to the links of a sprocket chain, said chain being carried about a vertically spaced pair of sprockets including means for driving said sprockets, elliptical stabilizer means for said trays comprising channel members at the opposed sides of said cabinet of an extent embracing said sprocket chains and defined by spaced vertical components and a pair of aligned medially spaced symmetrical arcuate components at the top and bottom of said vertical components and merging and communicating with each other and vwith said vertical components at the top and bottom thereof to form two closed elliptical paths of equal arcuate components, with the shorter roller projecting into the shallower arcuate components.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the deeper arcuate components at the top and bottom of said vertical components are uppermost. 

1. In a vertically disposed filing apparatus comprising a cabinet having a front opening and wherein a plurality of trays disposed therein are adapted to be moved in an elliptical path and presented at said opening for access to said trays, and wherein said trays are each carried on pivot pins in joint pivotal engagement at their opposed sides with the ends of the suspension arms, said arms diverging therefrom and separately pivotally connected at their opposed ends to the links of a sprocket chain, said chain being carried about a vertically spaced pair of sprockets including means for driving said sprockets, elliptical stabilizer means for said trays comprising channel members at the opposed sides of said cabinet of an extent embracing said sprocket chains and defined by spaced vertical components and a pair of aligned medially spaced symmetrical arcuate components at the top and bottom of said vertical components and merging and communicating with each other and with said vertical components at the top and bottom thereof to form two closed elliptical paths of equal distance, one of the arcuate components at the top and bottom together with the vertical components forming one path and being deeper than the remaining arcuate components, and a triangular stabilizer arm pivoted at one corner to said tray pivot pins and carrying rollers at its two remaining corners disposed in said channel members, one of said rollers being longer than the other and adapted to project into said deeper arcuate components, with the shorter roller projecting into the shallower arcuate components.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein the deeper arcuate components at the top and bottom of said vertical components are uppermost. 